The value of your work is like this: if I am alone in the woods, and I am walking through the woods, a flashlight has immense value, right?
Maybe that’s the most valuable a flashlight will ever be if I’m walking alone in the woods late at night, and I’m trying to find my way home.
But in broad daylight, you know, in the middle of an office building, maybe a flashlight has zero value. It’s not going to do me any good, right?
My poetry also has a fluctuating level of value, depending on where I’m at, who I’m speaking to, what my audience might be.
When we’re talking about who our audience is and who we’re really directing our messages to, again, that’s when it’s important to be specific and cut themes or ideas down to a specific audience.
Watching somebody on TV that’s a black man, that’s going to pull me in. But watching a religious black man on TV, as a black man that came up from a very specific religious background — that’s going to pull me in more.
You’re going to continue to really cut into this audience and this demographic until you strike gold. Maybe you’ll reach a Facebook group full of like, thousands of people. Or maybe you’ll reach a section of Twitter or other platform where all those people have those specific interests.
As you specify, you’re also going to reach a wider pool unintentionally; you’re going to also reach people that don’t have, or don’t share, all those identities. That’s great!
But the people that are going to push you forward the most are going to be those people that you’re able to really cut into and get — the people that are going to really incredibly resonate with your work.
See the full video: https://youtube.com/live/yg94JoNzx0s